contributor
26,977
edits
Changes
no edit summary
In addition to noticeable differences in the size and shape of the instrument overall, its tuning, and the snakeskin, the shape of the ''chimi'' is one of the more noticeable differences between the Okinawan sanshin and the Japanese shamisen, which uses a larger, flatter plectrum, called a ''bachi'', which is held in the hand and often used to strike the strings or the body of the instrument in a percussive manner. The sanshin's delicate snakeskin could not long survive such strikes, and they are not used in Okinawan music.
In addition to noticeable differences in the size and shape of the instrument overall, its tuning, and the snakeskin, the shape of the ''chimi'' is one of the more noticeable differences between the Okinawan sanshin and the Japanese shamisen, which uses a larger, flatter plectrum, called a ''bachi'', which is held in the hand and often used to strike the strings or the body of the instrument in a percussive manner. The sanshin's delicate snakeskin could not long survive such strikes, and they are not used in Okinawan music.
===Types of Sanshin===
While the ''sanshin'' overall has a distinctive look and sound differentiating it from the Chinese ''sanxian'' or the Japanese ''shamisen'', and while all ''sanshin'' are recognizable as Ryukyuan ''sanshin'', there are a number of types with slight variations in size and shape.
The ''Kuba sundun'' type, after a design by [[Kuba Sundun]]<!--久場春殿-->, has a particularly fat neck (''sao''), and a less curved head (''tin'') than most other styles. The neck grows gradually thicker along nearly its entire length, in contrast to many styles of ''sanshin'' which have a more noticeable point at which the neck begins to curve out.
==History==
==History==